Riverside done in by errors

Tuesday

NORTH SEWICKLEY TWP. - For six of the seven innings that the Riverside High School baseball team played against Laurel, the Panthers played solid and, at times, spectacular defense.

But the sixth inning ...

Four Riverside errors led to five unearned runs and Laurel defeated Riverside, 7-6. Riverside is 2-1 in Section 5-AA , 4-2 overall while Laurel is 3-0, 5-0.

"One bad inning got us," said Riverside coach Dan Oliastro. "We had the ground ball at second base we missed that could have been a double play ball and then it just snowballed.

"We had a nice comeback, though. We should have been able to hit him earlier."

In that abysmal sixth inning, Riverside had entered with a 2-0 lead thanks to a two-run homer by Tyler Falk. Their only other hit had been a line-drive single by Nick Pollio that bounced off Laurel pitcher Brandon Ritchie's leg but starter Ryan Finnegan had made the lead stand up.

Eleven Laurel batters hit in that inning, though, and only two were retired unwillingly. The Spartans received a walk, had three hits, recorded a sacrifice bunt and four batters reached on errors. Laurel scored seven times, but recorded just two runs batted in.

That was the only bad inning as the score remained 7-2 into the bottom of the seventh inning when, after one out, pinch hitter Ken Wiley lined a single into center field and Royce Kranz followed with a home run. One out later, Sean Strosnider singled and Ryan Finnegan followed with a home run to cut the gap to a single run.

Dylan Jones, however, relieved Ritchie and ended the game.

"It was nice seeing Kenny Wiley come back. He's a good hitter and has been out with a twisted ankle," Oliastro said. "It'll help getting him back and he could be back by Wednesday.

"This was a tough one but we know we're better than this. We'll be back."

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